What did the study find?

Since the last study there has been a shift in energy usage – there is more residential load and less commercial. This means that commercial members are now subsidizing the residential member class. The COSA methodology for cost categories was shifted to better align with standard practices. Based on this, it was suggested that the residential rate could be modified to better cover costs and improve revenue certainty which will more fairly recover costs. A residential demand charge could recover these costs while limiting adverse effects to small energy users, or OPALCO could increase the monthly fixed charge. OPALCO’s current infrastructure does not support demand charges for residential users, so this change would have to be implemented at a later date, if the team decides to move forward with demand charges.